TAXEDENOUGH

Burying power lines is just a way of the city getting funds from the people through the power company to bury them. It's like a back door tax. They will keep burying them all over till the people complain. I was told by a councilmen that when Mayor Lutz came up with this idea that they could just keep burying them once they got it started.

Anderson

Anderson

Nice points, ColB, especially that "bioswale" nomenclature. Why didn't Farnhamville call theirs that when they put it in several years ago; not only would that have pleased the tree huggers but also make all those peopledown'sream whomget flooded out from speeding up urban and rural runoff of excess water so much easier to accept their fate when hit like those in Cedar Rapids by that 11-ft-higher than ever flood a few years back.

Colonelbanters

Sorry, my point was that I think projects like Portland, Seattle and many other communities are already working on are going to be the norm in the future as we learn to be less careless with fresh water sources so, I would think that it would only serve Fort Dodge well to perhaps be more proactive with future development to avoid a repeat of history.

Colonelbanters

It is a little worrysome to read that 3 ponds may be needed to handle the run-off surge of heavy rains in a town the size of Fort Dodge-that's a lot of water shed! I would hope that the city not only puts bigger drains in but, also may want to understand these effects with future development regulations that simply require a certain percentage-as a minimum-of a property contain open earth where water can soak in. Here in Portland, they are in the midst of an on-going operation of replacing the old storm sewer grates with larger "bioswales" I believe they're called. They take up an area of the street/sidewalk about the size of a car and are filled with sandy soil and plants that are ideal for the conditions. In lighter rain conditions, the water just seeps back into the ground(water table) and now keeps over 500 million gallons of toxic street water from going into the river. When the rain is heavy, there is still a raised grate that empties into the original storm sewer

Colonelbanters

Dodger17, a high percentage of FD drivers never COULD drive-a simple 4-way stop still baffles many there when I go home-lol! As far as the plastic bags thing goes, we are in our second year of a city-wide ban on plastic bags basically on the larger operations but, leave the small shops alone. You are basically charged a fee of like 3-5 cents per bag that you use. If you bring your own bag, they dock that amount off your tab per bag you provide. Create a local tax of a few cents per new bag used then use that money for city employees to keep areas cleaner. Let's face it, FD has not been led well for decades now so, whatever the reason(s) for the horrible state of things by the mall right now, no one should be complaining that this is finally being addressed and burying some more cables just to make things look better along the way is all good to me.

Dodger17

So many residents still can't figure out (the simple) round about. How are they going to figure out how to navigate 25th when it goes to 2 lanes and a turning lane? You would be shocked at how many close calls these turning lanes cause because people, for some reason, can't figure out how they work.

jammer

Anderson

Beats me how the city let them lay all that concrete and asphalt out there in the first place without requiring adequate drainage to compensate for the increased and faster and drainage that necessitates. Penny wise and pound foolish on both the city's and the businesses part; but taxpayers can always be tapped for more, can't they?

marvin

Ralphus

Amazing that the city is so interested in burying power lines in what many consider a beautification effort. Yet when I drive by the fields next to Culver's or behind Wal Mart, all I see is a sea of plastic bags. I, for one, would like to see the city outlaw plastic bags altogether.It would cost next to nothing to help clean up the city.